For our reporters at the Ayrshire Weekly Press, the transition from newsroom to living room has been an interesting one.

From the buzz of the newsroom environment where we bounce ideas off of each other, flag up stories instantaneously and make far too many coffees in between phone calls and updates, sitting alone at our desks at home took a couple of days to get used to.

Like many others working from home during this period of self-isolation, we now rely on WhatsApp, video calls and various other forms of effective online communication to get the work done.

We check in and we check out, we set our intentions for the week and discuss how we can improve our performance even more so.

And we still make time for those coffee breaks to reset ourselves throughout the day, although without asking the usual, “anyone want anything from the shop?”

A lot has changed, but a lot has remained the same.

Our team consists of senior reporters, reporters working full-time and part-time, some doing Masters Degrees and some doing undergraduate degrees.

We have reporters who are Ayrshire born and bred and some who are from Glasgow, having gone from city to sea to report on Ayrshire communities and the stories that matter to them.

We come together seamlessly as a group and are adapting well to the situation we find ourselves in.

Again, some things remain the same.

In the last couple of weeks, some readers have been sending us in poems they have written which have been inspired by self-isolation, many of which are written in the style of Burns.

Another poet with a strong Ayrshire link is Tom Leonard, whose mother was from Saltcoats. In his poem ‘An Ayrshire Mother’ Leonard recounts:

‘Ma Womans Weekly

Ma Peoples Friend

Ma Ardrossan n Saltcoats Herald’.

Leonard’s words prove that no matter the time, the era or the crisis, Ayrshire Weekly Press remains an important part of people’s lives.

Isolation may have changed our way of working, but it has not changed our work ethic.

Across all titles, we will continue to produce the content the people of Ayrshire deserve.

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Scotland is in lockdown, shops are closing and newspaper sales are falling fast. We’re not exaggerating when we say that the future of the Cumnock Chronicle, and the vital local news service we’ve provided since 1901 is under threat.

Please consider supporting the Cumnock Chronicle  in whatever way you can – by paying just 90p for a copy of the paper, when you’re shopping for essential supplies for yourself and others, or by subscribing to our e-edition here.

Thanks - and stay safe.